Teen flees scene of weekend crash

Robert Connelly The Register-Mail RConnelly_

Tuesday

May 15, 2018 at 5:18 PMMay 15, 2018 at 5:18 PM

EAST GALESBURG — A Monmouth teen is likely to face several traffic charges after a weekend crash here.

According to an East Galesburg police report, an officer was on routine patrol about 11 p.m. Friday in the 200 block of South State Street when a car with a burned-out vehicle registration light pulled into a driveway and then backed out. The vehicle was then observed going into the opposite lane and then passed another vehicle without using its signal, the report said.

The East Galesburg officer activated his squad's emergency lights, but the driver allegedly began to increase speed and then hit his brakes before entering the East Galesburg Main Street underpass.

The officer, catching up to the vehicle, could see dust and smoke coming from the viaduct and found the vehicle had crashed to the left of the underpass in the yard of 550 W. Main St.

Airbags had deployed but the driver's door was open as all the occupants had left the four-door sedan. A few minutes later two Galesburg teenagers returned to the scene from a wooded area with their hands up. They said they had been with a group of people out at Lake Storey and had gotten a ride with a fellow teen.

The two Galesburg teens identified Seth A. Ross, 17, East 10th Avenue in Monmouth, as the driver. The vehicle damaged a mailbox, gazebo and the yard it landed in, the East Galesburg police report said.

According to a Knox County Sheriff's Department police report, Ross was reported missing to Galesburg police and search efforts were coordinated at the crash site with personnel from Knox County Sheriff's Department, East Galesburg, Knoxville, Galesburg emergency responders and local volunteers.

At about 6 p.m. Saturday, authorities received a report that a male fitting Ross's description who appeared to be injured was near the underpass on Main Street in East Galesburg. Deputies responded there, but did not locate him, the county report said.

Authorities then received a call from a relative of Ross that he had been found and was being transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. Ross was confirmed as being found by authorities as he arrived at Galesburg Cottage Hospital at about 7:40 p.m. Saturday, the KCSD report said.

East Galesburg police are seeking several charges in the case, but what charges are officially filed is up to the Knox County State's Attorney's Office.

It is expected that Ross will turn himself over to authorities in the near future and will be processed at the Knox County jail on the charges. Most likely the charges will trigger a first appearance in traffic court in mid-June.